InformationWeek.com

IT Salary Survey. Discover what you're worth in today's technology market. Find out FREE today!

Welcome Guest. | Log In| Register | Membership Benefits

September 27, 1999

CIO Forum
IT Now Citizen Of The World

Managing IT in a global environment pushes skill sets and communication to demanding new levels

By Alan T. Biland

ou get to work Monday and perform the customary voice-mail and E-mail checks and scan your in-box. Then the call comes from the CEO: "We need you in a meeting today at noon to discuss a planned acquisition." No problem, you think. But as the meeting unfolds, you learn that the company yours is planning to acquire is in Europe, with plants in Russia and Asia. Your day (and your life) just got more complicated.

Managing IT in a global environment is an order of magnitude more complex than managing a domestic IT operation. The first thing you need to do is dust off your passport. Traveling globally is important for gaining consensus on infrastructure standards, organizational design, and project priorities. Most key issues are best arrived at when meeting with others face-to-face.

With Snap-on Inc.'s recent acquisition of Sandvik Saws and Tools in Sweden, an IT synergy team was formed to ensure that infrastructure rationalization and future business and technology strategies are well thought out, efficient, and effective. Plan on spending enough time in other countries to understand the culture and norms. In some cultures, discussion, debate, consensus building, and dining and socializing outside the workplace are considered de rigueur. Try to move too fast, and you may find yourself cut off.

Use tools such as audio- and videoconferencing. Colleagues in Europe will appreciate meetings held early in the day in the United States, so they don't have to work too late. Conversely, meetings involving Australia might have to be scheduled at 5 p.m. in your office to catch the Australians at the start of their day. Be sensitive to the time schedules of your global counterparts, and they will appreciate your global mind-set.

Flexibility on technology standards might also be a must. Not all companies offer products in all markets, and in some cases, best-of-breed products may only be available in certain markets. Structure your technology strategy to take advantage of these nuances, especially in the areas of telecommunications (some of the world's telcos are still state owned) or application software in markets like Brazil, where having the application available in Portuguese and in compliance with local tax laws may require some exceptions to your standards.

Technology deployment is also very uneven around the world. This must be considered when planning infrastructure and application deployments. Don't design an application that depends on the availability of high-speed communication services, only to find that they're not available in all the markets you must serve. Low-speed or intermittent connections may be the best (or only) way to communicate in some markets.

Language still plays a big role in managing the IT function globally. Although English is the second language in most global markets, comprehension levels may vary widely. In meetings where you have speakers of different languages in the audience, take the time to hire a translation service, and ensure that hard copy of all meeting materials and minutes are available.

Finally, get some local knowledge as quickly as possible. Hire or identify somenationals to do your company's bidding. When it comes down to the tough negotiations, it is best to have someone who has more than a cursory understanding of local language and customs. Get to know the human-resources managers, ask them for the expatriate policy, and get some people to move to the global locations.

A one-week business trip is no substitute for having someone go to live in another culture for three to five years. It not only makes that employee more valuable to the company, but it creates long-lasting relationships with the nationals in other countries who will serve you well as you develop your global IT management strategies.

Alan T. Biland is VP and CIO at Snap-on Inc.

Back to the InformationWeek500 menu page